Is it the singers or the songs, Part 1
Thursday, July 3rd, 2008Yesterday I wrote about how impressed my pals and I were listening to Disc 2 of the new Journey album “Revelation”; that’s the one featuring the band’s classic tunes rerecorded with new singer and Steve Perry soundalike Arnel Pineda. The success the band is experiencing with their current line-up (top 5 debut, mass media attention) got me thinking about other bands that have replaced their lead singers, and the varrying degrees of acceptance that followed.
The most obvious success story comes when ACDC filled the singer spot left by the death of Bon Scott with Brian Johnson. Though both singers are distinctive, there’s no doubt that Johnson’s voice wasn’t too much of a stretch for the sound the band had already achieved with Bon. And while ACDC’s best selling album is “Back in Black”, their back catalogue featuring Bon’s vocals are all multiplatinum. I’ve never heard of any fans liking one version of the band over another. For most of us, ACDC is ACDC, regardless of who’s singing the songs.
The same can’t be said Van Halen. For many, the lines are clearly drawn between Sammy Hagar fans and David Lee Roth fans. Myself, I’m standing firm on the side of Diamond Dave. VH with DLR sounded like no other band on the planet, but with Sammy onside they changed their sound to something poppy and (to my ears) boring. Even though the band topped the charts with Sammy at the helm, a fear never accomplished with Dave, I think the massive success of the band’s 2007-2008 tour is proof that there’s only one version of Van Halen that will ever really matter, and that’s the one with DLR upfront.
Of course, even though Van Halen managed to sell records and sell out arenas with their second lead singer, there’s no doubt they struck out with Van Halen Mark 3. More on that, and some of rock’s notable replacement failures tomorrow. In the meantime, use DIAMOND as today’s bonus code.